


Flower For Your Thoughts

by YukiRiikus_Reading_Room



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Flowers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Love, PTSD, Presents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-10
Updated: 2013-06-10
Packaged: 2017-12-14 12:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/837046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room/pseuds/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve didn't know Natasha had bad memories associated with lilies when he bought them for her, he just wanted to get her a small present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flower For Your Thoughts

Natasha hated lilies.

There was no way, of course, that Steve could have known that.  Still, when she immediately went pale upon seeing the bouquet of them that he'd bought for her, he'd felt like a failure.  Especially when it took Clint over an hour to coax her down from the rafters.  Everyone was careful to pretend they couldn't tell she'd been crying as she walked by on her way to her room. 

That night, as they lay in bed together with Steve wrapped around her from behind, she finally told him that lilies were what Bucky had always bought her when they were together once long ago.  Steve made a mental note to never bring her lilies again. 

The next day, he tried roses.  And was very upset when her first instinct upon turning to see them was to throw up all over his shoes.

He learned later that her commanders in Russia had given her roses when she got back from an assassination.  Every single time she saw them, Natasha explained, she felt dirty and wrong.  Steve threw them away and made sure to tell everyone on board the Hellicarrier that roses weren't allowed on board ever for any reason. 

For the next few weeks, in between missions Steve would bring her a different flower and gauge her reaction, persistently trying to find one that she liked and that didn't bring back bad memories: daisies had been in the room when she'd killed an ambassador's six year old daughter, carnations reminded her of one of her marks, and the list went on and on.

Finally, Steve gave up.

For the next week, Natasha wondered if Steve had given up not only on the flowers, but on her - he stopped sleeping in her room, and between missions quickly rushed off before she could even say a word to him.  After two weeks of such silence, she was going crazy wondering if her baggage had finally sent him running.

That night, he came to her room carrying a bouquet of water colored paper flowers unlike anything she'd ever seen before, saying he was sorry it had taken him so long but that he'd needed to get them just right before he showed them to her. 

That night, she told him she loved him for the first time. 


End file.
